Sheryl Sandberg

My PhD (written many moons ago, and now collecting dust somewhere) is dedicated to the three men in my life: patidev, big brother, and dad (aside: poor mom, bless her kind soul, was brave and composed, but clearly shaken to be the only one in the family left out).

Wierd stuff that makes a team

My Austin team welcomed their manager back after his HQ trip with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGivk6Byc7E.

Big Company

I now work for a really big company. No, I work for a giant company. I had never worked for a big company before coming here, and a sort-of-mentor told me I would not survive a year here. I came anyway.

My thinking? I felt that every small company wants to grow into a bigger company, and the bigger company, into an even bigger company, and so on -- any my company (at the time) was going through some acute growing pains. Well, what better way to learn how to grow into a big company, than to work in one, and understand how it is run? I told myself that I would not give up in a year, and would stay till I learned what I was coming here to learn.

However, I digress. This is not a post about how big companies work. This is a post about how one navigates these oceans. Here are my top tips if you work for, or want to work for, a big company.

Pick your battles

I recently met my friend, who told me how much he has changed over the last couple years. When I worked with him a few years ago, he was a great software architect, could see the bigger picture, and all that, and was someone I had high regard for.

He then took the plunge into management, and is a Sr. Manager now at a mid size company. He told me how much he had changed since we worked together, and how he is more comfortable with imperfections now. Not every decision needs to be right anymore.

What he said reminded me of what my dad would say to me when I was a fiery teenager: You have only 24 hours in a day. You always need to pick your battles. If you don't, you will lose them all.

Often, it is very hard for us trained as scientists and engineers to internalize this. Our brains are wired to think about correctness first. However, whether it is the software we sell (with all its known and unknown bugs), organizations we run, or business decisions we make, the key to success is to get things to be good enough so we can move on to the more important battle.

I now have even higher professional regard for my friend. He is now making another career shift. Good luck to him and wish him more transformations and learning!

"How to" vs. "What to"

There is a very key difference between telling someone what needs to be done, and how one can do it. While "how to" can sometimes get in the way (more on this later), "how to" can also help someone learn things infinitely faster.

I recently started learning skiing, and found instructors who just tell me "what to" a waste of my money. I don't know the first thing about skiing. So, instead of telling me that I should be able to move forward effortlessly, please ask me to feel the balls of my feet. 

Patidev is a polygamist...

... and I like it!

Patidev is strictly a monogamist at home. However, at work, he has a small harem, and men and women are equally in his little harem. He brews coffee for them; listens about their brats, inlaws and significant others; complains about his; laughs with them; and truly, genuinely worries about them when they are unhappy.

Where do they go?

My friend, P, is looking for a job. She wants to work for the government. 


P is bright, capable, funny and smart. She has been in the industry for 15 years, and is good at what she does. So, we ask her the big question: Why?

Where is the Feminine CEO?

Various all girls schools are opening up in USA. Parents seek these schools to help their teenage girls learn that they can be good at chess, and football, and just as good as men at stuff that men do.

Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi, legend goes, found that baseball was her glass ceiling in the male dominated board room. She studied, memorized, and mastered sports trivia in her spare time. She may not be a baseball fan, but would talk baseball with authority.

I am tired of stories of women who did things that they did not enjoy to succeed in a man's world. I look for that role model CEO who loves to cook or dance in her spare time. I look for that role model CEO who will display these passions with the same pride that Larry Ellison displays his yacht. I look for the role model CEOs in this article.

Who is your role model?

Image is everything, thirst is nothing ...

Sometime, I am just not interested in joining a club, and I am invited over and over. Instead of showing disinterest, I claim I am busy to opt out. Sometimes, I clean the house just a bit before guests arrive. Sometimes, I skip a shower, but change my clothes and do my hair, so it looks like I did.

When I do this, patidev, (who is more used to responding to club invites with "dude! you think I would really join a scrapbook club?") gives me that look with a twinkle in his eye. He then whispers - "image is everything, thirst is nothing". I get all embarrassed and wonder if I am being dishonest or just kind.

I reserve that judgement "image is everything, thirst is nothing" for a select few. People who manipulate situations to their benefit and other's detriment, who scratch your back when they need something in return and don't bother building long term relationships, who rise in their career not by building teams, but by destroying people. However, for the most part, I accept work place politics as a clean sport.

Managing perception is as important for support and success of a team or project as the work that is done. You can build the greatest product - but with lousy advertisement and unattractive packaging, you will sell nothing. You can have a great health care bill - but without public education and support, you will not be able to pass it. You can make the softest, tastiest pancakes, but without the happy face, the kids won't wolf them down.

Someday, I will write a management book. It will not be about truth, and honesty. It will be about perception. It will be about packaging and presentation. Because, my dear, that is just as important as the thing inside the package. That gives you the foot in the door.

Americans are from Mars, Japanese are from Pluto

Japanese customers seem to always find ways to ask questions which American engineers do not understand. That is not quite correct. We understand the question. We just do not understand why we need to answer the question.

If you have not directly dealt with a Japanese customer, read http://peterhanami.blogspot.com/2006/04/buyer-behaviour-insights-of-japanese.html first.

Here is an imaginary conversation with a Japanese customer (JC):

Me: This gizmo is really cool. I use it all the time. Look, I can flip it in the air like Rajnikanth. I heard you folks really like Rajnikanth.
JC (looking impressed): Alice-san, can you use it if you are flipping yourself?
Me: You bet! You can use it any way you like. Would you like to use one for a few days before you buy?
[a few days later ...]
JC: What happens if the gizmo falls into the toilet?
Me: Oh, I am sorry! Did you drop it into the toilet? Can I give you another one?
JC: Alice-san, I would really like to know what happens if it falls into the toilet.
Me (puzzled): What do you mean? I am not sure. I have never dropped it in the toilet myself. There could be a malfunction due to short circuit ... but I'd know only if I try to retrieve it from the toilet ... which I am not sure I ...
JC (interrupts): Alice-san, I tried to flush it down the test toilet I have in my lab, but it backed up the sewer. Can you explain why it backed up the sewer?
Me: I guess the gizmo is too big for your sewer?
JC: Alice-san, what diameter should the sewer pipe be for it to not back up?
Me (still puzzled): Any diameter greater than the length of the gizmo should do it.
[a few days later ...]
JC: Alice-san, your gizmo is 4 inches, and I tried with a sewer pipe 4.001 inches in diameter - but the sewer still backed up. Can you explain?
Me: Beats me. Maybe, the sewer has some sediments and the effective diameter is lesser.
[a few days later ...]
JC: Alice-san, the sediments were only 0.0009 inches thick. Can you explain why the sewer backed up?
Me (exhausted and wondering why I need to go through this): Sir, is there any reason why you feel that the gizmo may fall in the toilet?
JC (persistent): I am interested in knowing what will happen if the gizmo falls into a toilet with sewer pipe larger than 4inches in diameter. Can you find out and let me know?

It is amazing that Americans still continue to sell to the Japanese and Japanese still continue to buy from Americans.

Maybe Kipling knew what he was talking about:
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand accross money, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth.

In the meanwhile, our APAC sales are flat, and the Japanese sales folks claim it is due to the way the gizmo blocks the sewer when flushed down. They would like the us to add a feature where contact with toilet cleaning detergent will dissolve the gizmo.

In addition, they would like ipv6 support and Windows98 support since Japanese users are always either in the future or the past, never the present.

They ping us about 5 times a day to see when they can get the sewer flush feature. Maybe, we'll work on the design, since we are spending more time and money fending them off. Maybe, if we do this one, they will come up with the next crazy feature they want and we will be back where we are.